Lindsay Premiere on OWN

If you were hoping Lindsay Lohan’s docu series was going to be on par with VH1 celeb-reality shows, you might want to dust off that box set of Flavor of Love now. The Oprah produced, OWN series Lindsay, is not that show. If anything, Emmy winning documentarian Amy Rice, treats Lindsay with the seriousness the once in-demand actress used to receive.

The show feels literally as sober as Lindsay Lohan reports to be, instantly established by Intervention-esque title cards. We’re brought up to speed with Lohan’s current state of affairs, starting with her meteoric rise from Parent Trap cutie in ‘97, to her recent sixth stint in rehab. The World’s Most Famous Comeback Kid cleans out her storage, preparing for her move back to New York and tells the camera that there’s “nothing left for her” in having a drink or going to another party. Actions do speak louder than words, especially if you’re an actress best known for going to rehab a lot, it can become difficult to tell the sincere from the insincere.  She seems to readily understand this when she smartly cancels a post-rehab trip to Europe and later, an offer of a GQ sponsored trip to promote her film, The Canyons, at the Venice Film Festival.

But is this coming from Lohan herself or the fear of Oprah looming? Guess that’s why we’re watching.

Once in New York, we’re privy to the new life Lindsay is attempting to create for herself. It’s the same struggle most 20 somethings experience: the frustration of apartment hunting, sorting through your old crap at your parents house, and trying to establish a career. But of course, we’re not talking about you and me 20 something, we’re talking about Lindsay Lohan. So you can also add constant paparazzis, that camp outside her hotel and sometimes hinder her from attending AA meetings. And then there’s the pressure of simply being, The Lindsay Lohan.

Co-Op boards don’t want her in their building or want to charge her extra for living there, directors and producers want to use her name for promotion and expect her to play her part, so to speak, for their purposes. After getting put on blast by director of The Canyons Paul Schrader, for not attending the Venice Film Festival, 30 some odd days after rehab I might add, Lohan agrees to a lingerie shoot.

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The pressuring producer of the shoddy shoot, switches up the game plan on Lohan, inciting an argument that gives us an honest insight into Lohan and what a turd this “lingerie shoot” was. It seems that Lohan is finally taking herself seriously, realizing she’s one with the name power here and she doesn’t have to subject herself to anything she doesn’t want to, as she aptly put it, she’s  “trying to relearn everything, sober” though. Speaking up when you’re not comfortable doesn’t make you unreasonable and it was interesting to see the flip side of how some Lohan rumors could make their way to Page Six. And any infrequently employed person knows the feeling of needing to do a “filler” project, which seeing her calling herself out on was refreshing.

She’s also surrounded herself with a good group of people, attending NYFW to see her little sister walk in a fashion show, Lohan’s flanked by her sober coach Michael and assistant, Matt. Matt, by the way, has the worst job in the world, but if you can work for Steven Tyler, I guess you can work for anyone.  If Lindsay doesn’t have a season two, can we please get a Matt the Assistant spin-off?

From the trailer for season one of Lindsay, it’s hard to tell if all these good omens will amount to a hill of beans. But isn’t that the fun in watching reality TV?

Join me next week for another recap of Lindsay!

 

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M. Poupard

Margaux Poupard is an award-winning comedy screenwriter, freelance copywriter, and accomplished producer.

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